Dissecting and understanding Professional Development days will help propose an appropriate research design. For instance, there are three major focal points in effective professional development seminars: content, context, and design. The first major area, content, is student centered having active teaching, observations, assessments, and reflections occurring rather than conceptual discussions. All these active tactics are in place to enhance a teacher’s competence and knowledge of the content, especially when this content is aligned to the curriculum and state standards. This will aid in the development of the academic skills to teach particular content areas, resulting in strong positive improvements in their classroom. Next, is the second focal point, context, which emphasizes content knowledge with active learning, coherency, observation, and reflection rather than abstract discussion (Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009). It should not be forgotten that the professional development should be an articulate part of a school reform effort integrated with school improvement, not an approach in isolation (Darling-Hammond &Richardson, 2009). The third and final element of effective professional development is design, which implements active and sustained learning. This design piece is where learning activities will allow teachers to …show more content…
Its participants involved two-thirds of the low-income students reading below grade level. The treatment for this research consisted of the teachers identifying the focus for their Professional Development plan. The plan would be based on basic goal that the teachers selected for their students. Six teachers would attend a summer literacy institute for 3 weeks which was sponsored by a local university. They learned strategies on how to integrate reading and writing instruction with strategic assessments as well as teaching the essential skills to students on an as needed basis. In collaboration with 2 district wide instructional coach, they designed professional development for the rest of the staff. They introduced the curriculum, teaching strategies, and data analysis techniques during the professional development meetings that were held monthly throughout the school year. It was through the diligent and team effort apply throughout the school by the teachers that the teachers were able to manipulate and influence the outcome of student achievement, thus relating to a casual experimental research plan Lauer, 2006. p.43). Additional, the instructional coaches were available throughout the year to model and assist teachers as needed. The principle also adjusted the school schedule to